Polis Collaborative Partners

Polis has played an important facilitative role in the shift toward place-based work, but the primary heroes have been the many people who have rolled up their sleeves and done the work. For one, there are the regionally influential leaders who have guided this shift and been willing to put significant resources behind things like robust community engagement and comprehensive evaluation — two things that everyone knows are important, but not everyone is willing to invest in. There are also significant heroes at the neighborhood level, like the resident leaders who are willing to trust “outsiders” even when history does not suggest that this trust is necessarily warranted. And last but not least, there are the heroes in the nonprofit community who are willing to risk dedicated funding sources to try something new. Together we are shifting the culture of service in Metro Orlando toward methods that create lasting change in dignified ways.